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How Long Should Getting a Band Off the Ground Take?

#41
obimark said:
I really admire the tenacity of you recording "group" guys/girls--- and by admire, I mean laugh to myself. As many have stated, you all are worrying and splitting hairs perfecting a cd with 11 songs, that no-one other than your friends and family will ever hear. People like myself have played 20 gigs in the time you have been recording this thing.
Yes- you could be the rare exception, that is discovered off this CD and catapulted to instant FAME and FORTUNE, but do you feel that lucky?

How would you play your material?
You haven't put in the road-time even being able to play this material, and if it is this difficult to even record. I won't think it is going to be an easy task playing them live well as a BAND.
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Yeah, bingo. I'm in a cover band that originated with the guitarist and singer recording originals. For a long time, when asked if the band could try out some of their tunes in a show, he always said no - they had tweaked them so perfectly in the recordings, we would never be able to "do them justice" live. He's finally relented and we're learning one, but it illustrates the problem - fret too much over a studio masterpiece, and you wind up with something you can NEVER play live to your satisfaction, and where does the band go then?
 
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#46
You have to get out there First. My first band: 3 months and we were out playing 2nd band: 1 month and out playing. 6 months is more than enough time the 3 songs you have are your first album no use rerecording them on your dime. Next studio session work on new songs. Nobody wants to buy an album that they already have half the songs.
 
#47
You should really go out and play by now. I've been in a similar type of situation last year. Been rehearsing for 8 months before our first gig. Too much of "in the making". After 4 gigs I realized why it took us 8 months before our first gig. The reason why is that the vocals has his own ways of doing things and that's holding us back. So I left.

Convince them to go play live as much as you can.
 
#48
I was in a band like the OP (minus the super fancy studio). Songs were being reworked so much that they deflated over time. We had more songs at 3 months than we did at 18 months because everything just got destroyed through reworking. We never gigged. Quitting that group for my current band was liberating.

I just talked to the old guitarist for that group (they are still rehearsing with no gigs. this would be over two years if I had stayed) and he showed me this new lick I have never heard....oh yea that's the new version of one of the four songs we relentlessly reworked. We spent months on this thing and now it isn't even recognizable.
 
#49
Lizardskyball said:
Quitting that group for my current band was liberating.
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That's exactly how I felt.

My band was comprised of guys that were my best friends before we started playing together. The drummer and I were practically inseparable in high school and we played together for over 15 years. I put off leaving the band for a long time because I didn't want to let anybody down or feel left out form my group of friends. Eventually I realized that their goals were totally different than mine (I just wanted to play some gigs) and that I just wasn't having fun playing at my friends house all the time. So I sucked it up and decided it was time to leave. I felt crappy about it and it took a little while to do it, but once I did it was indeed liberating.

I found a new group to play with, we hit it off right away, and we've been gigging steadily for the past 3 1/2 years. It's fun again!
 
#50
I was in a similar situation with a 3 song demo about 10 years ago... I was booking gigs and promoting with zero help or appreciation and all I got was resistance and grief from the other members...drummer would say "I don't know why we're playing shows or practicing, we should be recording", so I finally gave in... Three years later the 3 song demo still not "good enough", I actually quit after 2 years of waiting ,to this day the demo never got finished (and I'm talking about mixing and mastering)...
lifes too short for perfection, and a demo doesn't need that!! So either they'll just get out and play, or they'll hide in the studio nitpick over small details!!

another thing is "demo-itis", where the album can't match the feel of the demo, another thing to consider
 
#51
One thing I remember one of the pickier guys (guitar) saying all the time is, "People are going to think _______ about a song and be too surprised. People are going to be confused by this chord. People are going to think....this and that blah blah" like were going to be playing for all the higher ups at pitchfork, sxsw, bonnaroo, record companies, ect at our first gig. When in reality our first gig would have been at a bar or something and it would mostly be friends and family. We were not realizing our imaginary audience and what could have been our real audience didn't match up.
 
#54
mancefine said:
S
My issue is that we have been practicing 2-3 times a week for the past 6 months and when I joined ... ... but I think there is a point where waiting does more harm than good and especially there is a point when bands just need to get out and play and share their art with people.
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If I had rehearsed 52+ times (that's 26 weeks x 2 times a week for the arithmetically impaired) someone had damn well better show me a gig or show me the door. A real gig. Like, when they give you money at the end of the night. Bands seem to line up on an inverse bell curve ... there are those who don't get out and play because they don't think they're "good enough" yet, and other still that get out and play too early because they think they're better than they are. The money makers are in the middle ... they know they don't have to please EVERY audience, just the one they're playing for tonight.
 
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#55
Like every one said play live...your music is only half the battle... Stage show and talking to fans and putting yourself out there is A big part of being in a band... If your boring on stage it don't matter how good or how many hours you put in the studio.. Play play play... A year is waaaay to long...
 
#56
hrodbert696 said:
The perfect is the enemy of the good. Try to get everything perfect and you will never ever release anything good. Look at the classic bands of the 60s and 70s - they cranked out an album a year, sometimes two, while constantly touring. They'd write new songs on the road, hit the studio for a couple weeks to record them, then back out on the road again. Usually the songs would evolve in live performance into better versions than the studio tracks. Book a gig, and go into it with whatever you've got, ready or not. That's the real route to becoming a great band.
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Excellent advice!
 
#57
Really interesting thread.

My sense is that you already know what you want to do and what you think is best, and you are "crowd-sourcing" to see if your opinions make sense.

Take the course of action that you believe is most sound. I'm certain that there are many, many different paths a successful band can take; the important thing is to believe in the one you've chosen.

I lead a cover band....small bars, and all but one of us does something else for a living, and we don't care about making money....so I'm in a different universe from you. But in my band, my role as leader seems to involve about equal thirds music, politics, and psychoanalysis.

Even though you asked a musical question, I think the answer probably has more to do with politics and psychology.

Good luck! Where are you located? If your band starts playing live and is in my area, I'd love to come hear you.
 
#58
I am probably too old to help you find your direction but you should be able to get going after a couple of months with semi-pro band experience.
Too much emphasis on utilization of technology these days detracts from musicianship. Some people would call it toys for boys. If your members
are focusing their attention on tech, then it will slow up your rehearsal time without your realizing it. I'm merely pointing out these things, it is your
decision-making that will pave the way eventually. As for recording - you should really be working as a band full-time before you even
consider it, unless you have all had the experience beforehand, maybe in different bands. You can then utilize the time-out between long series of
gigs to write, arrange and record. Otherwise, you may keep going along the way as you are until you break up. Good luck with the best of your decisions.
 
#59
This is definitely crazy. There's no reason to wait for any of that stuff to play shows. There's also no reason not to have copies of your rough "demo" available at the shows and online so folks can get a taste for your music.

I'm a stone-cold perfectionist when it comes to having music down pat before hitting the studio or playing shows, but if I had a set's worth of material, some of which was recorded, and the band refused to play live after 6 months of 2-3 days per week of practicing... I'd be thinking hard. This situation reminds me of a period of time when I worked with a singer/multinstrumentalist who had tons of great songs, and attracted great other musicians, but for one reason or another we only managed to play two gigs and record zero times in a couple of years. Fast-forward to my new band, who've played more than 35 shows and recorded two EPs in a similar amount of time -- and the number of shows would probably be doubled except for the fact that we had to switch drummers twice.

P.S. The one thing they are right about is re-recording the songs for the "album." You really can't take songs you've already recorded and tack them onto songs recorded in a different session -- at least, not if you are going to be as particular about your sound as it sounds. Personally I'd have the demo available while you start playing shows, and if you want them on the full-length then re-record them. In my experience the odds are that by the time you get to the full-length (which who knows when that would be, no matter what you may have planned), you may well have other songs you'd rather record anyway.
 
#60
go play somewhere for free ... or go do a opening set for another band ... if it feels good live , stick around and keep playing ...

if it's gonna be nothing but a recording project ... which is fine also ... and You wanna play out , ... find another band to play out with ...

recording and re-recording can be a deep bottomless well ... !! I've been working on a few songs , re-writing then over and over since the 80's .. !!! really just gotta do your best and move on ... I'm trying to do that myself ...

is it taking tooooooo long ... that can only be up to you ... I've had cover bands up and running within a couple weeks to a couple months ...
 

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